Monthly Archives: May 2014

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In case you need biscuit-baking inspiration, we’ve been digging in our library and archives for examples of biscuit recipes you might not have come across before. Our Librarian has managed to find several interesting recipes in the rare books collection, such as Lemon biscuits and Drop biscuits from ‘The London Art of Cookery’ by John Farley (1792) RESERVE 641.5 FAR; Ccommon biscuits, from The Frugal Housewife by Susannah Carter (1795) RESERVE 641.5 CAR; and Threadneedle Street biscuits and Aunt Charlotte’s biscuits in ‘Modern Cookery for Private Families’ by Eliza Acton (1875) RESERVE 641.5942 BUR.

One of our volunteers also spent a morning in the reading room and found recipes in a handwritten recipe book with newspaper cuttings from the 1920s, a farm account book for a farm in Sutton Scotney, Hampshire, 1854-1865, which, as well as detailing quantities of crops sown and harvested, and account of livestock, was used as a copy book and recipe book, 1882- c.1913. She even came across a 100+ year old macaroon recipe to rival Picnic’s!

But the recipe which caught my attention was the Threadneedle Street Biscuits, simply because I was intrigued by the name. Threadneedle Street is the location in London of the Bank of England, but I haven’t managed to find out what the connection is! The recipe appears in ‘Modern Cookery for Private Families’ by Eliza Acton (1875), on a page with Plain dessert or Wine biscuits, Ginger biscuits and ‘Good Captain’s biscuits!

Threadneedle Street Biscuits

2 lbs flour 4 oz sugar

3 oz butter 1 pint milk

Optional: ½ teaspoon carbonate of soda ; caraway seeds

Mix with two pounds of sifted flour of the very best quality, three ounces of good butter, and work it into the smallest possible crumbs; add four ounces of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and make them into a firm paste with new milk; beat this forcibly for some with a rolling pin and when it is extremely smooth roll it the third of an inch thick, cut it with a small square cutter, and bake the biscuits in a very slow oven until they are crisp in the centre: no part of them should remain soft. Half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda is said to improve the, but we have not put it to the test. Carraway seeds can be added when they are liked.

Give it a go and let us know what they’re like and don’t forget to bring your homemade biscuits to the Fete on Saturday and enter the Bake-off! For previous recipes, click here and if you’re interested in the other recipes mentioned above, come along to the Bake-off stand at the Fete to pick up a copy of our biscuit recipe compilation leaflet!

I have been researching the Swing riots since 2010 after talking to a Museum visitor who asked to see a threshing machine. She explained that her ancestor had been transported to Tasmania in 1831 after being brought before the Salisbury Magistrates and charged with destroying a threshing machine. My curiosity was aroused; history has always been a passion of mine and volunteering at MERL has given me the opportunity to pursue this hobby. I discovered that the Swing Riots, an important agricultural protest movement, appears as a minor footnote in our history and yet had a major effect on rural communities throughout the south of England, including Berkshire.

The ‘MERL Players Company’ formed after the CREW Presentation Skills course in 2012 developed various events designed for children from Family Tours to a Victorian Christmas. We created different characters to illustrate aspects of rural life and focused on local history relating to Huntley & Palmers and Victorian Christmas traditions. At the beginning of 2013 the Swing Riots was discussed as a potential subject to include in a planned outreach programme to present to senior school and community groups. We were fortunate to have experts on the subject in Rob Davies, our Volunteer Supervisor and Keith Jerrome, a fellow volunteer guide to lead us on our Swing Riots journey.

Everyone jumped into action to relate the story of William Winterbourne (alias Smith), who was hung at Reading Gaol, and the protest activities within the communities of Kintbury and Hungerford. Keith and his team carried out important background research at Berkshire Records Office; we read books on the subject; Anne discovered a folk song on the Swing riots (Owlesbury Lads). Ilka Weiss, a stage designer with international theatrical experience gave us valuable advice during rehearsals which helped us finesse our performance. Costumes were kept simple, with everyone wearing black with hats, shawls and caps for identifying characters. Jan Butler, another MERL Volunteer, did an outstanding job creating and knitting superb wigs for the judge and two barristers – all from an old Arran sweater! Clive became a powerful Winterbourn, Keith relished his role as the Reverend Fowle and Jeremy a commanding Judge. Sadly, we had cast members fall ill at the last moment – but in true theatrical tradition ‘the show must go on’ and ‘understudies’ stepped in.

It has been great fun and now the show goes on tour at the end of the month! We are delighted to have been invited to present our performance to The Hungerford Historical Association on the evening of 28th May in Hungerford Town Hall – who knows, the next stop may be the West End!! Seriously, we welcome invitations to showcase this important story in classrooms, village halls or care homes!! Bring it on!!!

You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar

Guided tourWednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays, 3-3.45pm
Free, booking advisableLet our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see MERL’s hidden treasures.
Please note the tours this Saturday will be Family tours as part of the MERL Village Fete (see below)

Half term family fun!Food trail
From Saturday 24th May
£2 per child, drop in
In the run-up to our food-themed Village Fete (May 31st) explore the Museum on our special food trail.

For details of family tours and craft workshops at half term, visit our Family Events page

Palmer’s Painted Glass
Tuesday 27th May (pm session fully booked)

Bee Pots
Wednesday 28th May, 10am -12.30pm & 1.30-4pm
£2 per child, drop-in
Learn how to plant a bee-friendly garden and plant your very own pot to take away.

Family tours
Thursday 29th May
11am & 2.30pm
Join members of our team of family tour guides for a fun, interactive 30 minute tour of the museu and hear stories about what it was once like to live and work in the countryside.

MERL Village Fete
Saturday 31st May, 10am to 4.30pm
£2.50 in advance or £3 on the door, children free
Our annual fete is on the theme of food this year. Join us for a fun, family day out with delicious food and traditional entertainment!
Don’t forget to bring your homemade biscuits for our new Biscuit Bake-off competition!
For details, visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl/villagefete

Exhibitions

Reading University College: WW1 and beyond
Tuesday 1st April to 31 August, 2014
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening timesFunded by Arts Council England as part of the Reading Connections project, and inspired by the University of Reading Memorial Book and Clock Tower memorial, this exhibition reveals the stories of the men and women with connections to the then Reading University College, who fell during the First World War. The exhibition also looks at the theme of War in a broader sense with interesting items from MERL and the SPecial Collections relating to other conflicts.Part of our WW1 programme

Collecting the countryside: 20th century rural culturesUntil Autumn 2014Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening timesSince 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.

Visitors to the Museum of English Rural Life Village Fete on Saturday 31st May should get ready to have their tastebuds tempted.

The theme for this year’s family friendly Fete is food. On the menu are cookery demonstrations, food science experiments, food-inspired craft, stories, and trails, as well as delicious produce to taste.

BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Bunny Guinness will open the event. Bunny, who lives a self-sufficient lifestyle and is keen to promote the idea of growing and producing your own food, will also be taking visitors’ questions in Q&A sessions. Bunny will also be helping to judge the new MERL Biscuit Bake-off competition.

Bunny Guinness says: “I am very much looking forward to returning to Reading where I have many happy memories. It’s fitting this year’s Fete is focusing on food. The University has a prestigious reputation for food and plant science which links directly into the town’s beer, bulbs and biscuit history. I am looking forward to chatting to fellow garden enthusiasts and food producers.”

The Village Fete is an event which sees the community and the University working together. Several local community groups and organisations, such as RISC and Two Rivers Press, have been involved in creating activities on the theme of food growing and production for the public to try out on the day. The Museum has also involved colleagues and students from across the University, so that visitors can also find out about fascinating research into a range of issues relating to food production, biodiversity and health.

Visitors can watch ‘Reading, Steady, Cook!’ demonstrations – with Food Science students from the University who have been challenged by the Chinese Association, the Barbados and Friends Association, the West Indian Women’s Circle and the University Newcomers, to create new dishes from ingredients used by the diverse communities in Reading. Colleagues from the Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences will be joining the students and members of the Reading University Baking Society (RUBS) to demonstrate the science of baking and cheese making.

Phillippa Heath, Public Programmes Manager says: “Of course you cannot have food without drink and we are delighted to welcome the Brewery History Society to this year’s event. We have also created our own village pub, The Merl-inn, which will be serving a number of local ales and ciders. Sherfield Village Brewery, who recently created the ‘Extra Curricular’ ale in collaboration with Reading University Real Ale Society, has brewed a special ale to be served alongside beers from other local breweries at the event. Described as “a light, hoppy summer beer” it now needs a name! We’re inviting the public to suggest a name for the new ale and we’ll pick our favourite at 9am Thursday 29th May.

“Send us your ideas by tweeting to @MERLReading #MERLfete, commenting on our Facebook page, or by email to merlevents@reading.ac.uk by 9pm on Weds 28th May to enter. The winner will receive a pair of tickets to the MERL Village Fete and obviously a free pint of the new beer!

“There’s something for everyone to come and enjoy, from food-themed family tours of the Museum, free printing activities, traditional games and face-painting to delicious refreshments including ice-cream, smoothies (though you have to use your own cycle-power to make them!) cream teas and cake, a beer tent, vegetarian street food, and a hog roast. There’ll even be chickens and bumble bees!”

The MERL Village Fete takes place at the Museum of English Rural Life on Redlands Road on Saturday May 31st. Tickets are available in advance for £2.50 or for £3 on the door. Children go free. Details can be found at www.reading.ac.uk/merl/VillageFete or by calling 0118 378 8660.

The second biscuit recipe of this week, by Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer

Sometimes I really love social media! We’d never have come across this week’s recipes had it not been for a #ThrowbackThursday image we posted last week on Twitter. As it was #BritishSandwichWeek, the picture was of recipes for sandwich spreads from a 1944 MAF leaflet – some of which sounded a little less than appetising! One follower, writer and historical consultant @DrIanFriel commented that he remembered a particularly revolting sounding WWII recipe for ‘fish custard’! After a brief Twitter exchange, I discovered that he had produced a 1940s recipe book at Littlehampton Museum in 1995. In no time at all, Dr Friel had very kindly emailed the following:

Littlehampton Honey & Fig Biscuits

The recipes were published in Littlehampton Museum, Rationed Recipes. Recipes from the Age of Austerity, Littlehampton Museum Publications, 1995. The material in it derived from 1940s leaflets and from two ladies who lived through the period. The booklet was produced in connection with an exhibition that we did about postwar Littlehampton, hence the focus on the Austerity rather than the WW2 era.

How easily available figs were in the 1940s, I don’t know, and I imagine that honey was easier to come by. The recipes were based on pooling the rations of four people, so the two ounces of cooking fat in the fig biscuits would blow a couple’s fat ration for a week!

I’ve never tried cooking either of these so can’t be quite sure what they’re like. The oven settings are a bit vague, but at a rough estimate ‘moderately hot’ equates to 190-200 C/Gas 5-6 and ‘hot’ to 220/230C/Gas 7-8: probably best to check the biscuits regularly.

Cream the margarine and sugar and beat in the egg. Add the honey, work in the flour, cinnamon and salt. Roll out until ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Cut into rounds, place on a baking sheet, and bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes. This quantity makes approximately 40-50 biscuits.

Mix flour and salt and rub in the fat. Mix in water and work to a stiff dough. Chop up the figs and simmer in water till quite soft. Add spice, and lemon essence, and allow to become quite cold.

Roll pastry out into an oblong 12 inches (30 cm) by 24 inches (60 cm) and ¼ inch thick (6 mm). Spread half of the pastry with the filling, cover with the other half (i.e. you fold one half over the other) and bake in a hot oven for ten minutes and cut into squares when cold. This quantity makes approximately 40 biscuits.

We were looking to increase the choice of beers on offer this year, and approached the Sherfield Village Brewery, who recently collaborated with the University of Reading Real Ale Society to create Extra-Curricular ale to serve in the University bars. This popular brew has sold out, so Sherfield agreed to create a new beer specially for our event. The new ‘light, hoppy, summer beer’ now needs a name!

So, we are inviting you to come up with a name for the new beer, which relates in some way to MERL, our collections or the Village Fete! You can enter our competition by posting your suggested names below, via Twitter (@MERLReading #MERLfete) or on our Facebook page or by emailing merlevents@reading.ac.uk by 9am on Thursday 29th May. We’ll pick our favourite and the winner will receive a pair of tickets to the Fete and a free pint – of course!

Yesterday we picked up our newest acquisition: a pair of wellies. It seems strange that a museum of English rural life wouldn’t have this icon of the countryside already in the collection, but they never really came onto our radar as an endangered object. The welly has never needed saving as it’s managed to persevere as a popular and versatile piece of footwear from its inception in 1817 as a military boot, through to being the favoured outdoor footwear for farmers and to the present day as a quasi-glamour item associated with festivals.

Michael Eavis wearing his wellies in front of his farmhouse.

It is these last two associations which led us to the pair of wellies pictured above. They have been well-used over a ten year period by Michael Eavis, Somerset dairy farmer and organiser of Glastonbury Festival. Despite the massive popularity of the festival which Michael has been running since 1970, he is first and foremost a farmer and the infamous Glastonbury mud is still caked on the soles of his wellies now sitting in the Assistant Curator’s office. His dairy herd are the highest yielding in Somerset and the 4th highest in the UK – and if he milked them three times a day rather than two he could even be the highest in the country. He has a great enthusiasm for his farm, his cows and the people who look after them. However, as founder of Glastonbury he has also overseen the birth of the welly as a practical fashion item, with revellers mucking about in the mud on his farm splashed across papers and TV reports (and subsequently onto the national psyche). Celebrities hounded by the paparazzi at the festival have their outfits scrutinised by tabloids and magazines, leaving the Hunter wellington boot to come out top in the fashion stakes. Festivals are not only a way for a select few farmers to earn extra income, but also a principal way in which people now enjoy the countryside.

Michael is a farmer first – his farm dominates the view from his garden, with the Pyramid Stage in the distance.

There is one small hitch though: these wellies are French. Should this matter, as a museum of English rural life? I don’t think that it does, but I’m well aware that others may think differently. The message these wellies are meant to illustrate – that they have shifted in the public mind from practical farmers’ shoes to festival-goers’ shoes – is not affected by their origin. Michael Eavis is English, as is his farm, and presumably the shop he bought them in was also English (we’ll be ironing out these details in an interview later this year).

We’re currently debating whether to keep the Glastonbury mud on the soles.

This is an issue which I think we will encounter in various forms in the new displays as part of Our Country Lives. There are numerous stories and facts that we want to talk about with our visitors, but for some of these we may not necessarily have the objects to illustrate them, or the objects we have may have a difficult provenance (e.g. they are not from England, or we don’t know who owned them or where they’re from). Should this mean, then, that we don’t talk about certain issues or facts? It shouldn’t, as for every topic we don’t have an object for there is a wealth of archives, photographs and videos which we can use instead. In the case of these specific boots, I think they remain valid in the sense that they show the international side of English rural life, and our place in a new, globalised world market. To ignore the international links and global events that affect English agriculture and the economy would be a dishonest way of exploring English rural life, and as such will still feature in the new galleries. We are continuing to research and plan these galleries, but once we approach our final version we will be sure to let you know all about them on this blog!

This week’s biscuit recipe comes from Ministry of Food pamphlets found in the MERL Library collections; two pamphlets have been used to give you a recipe with a twist (and a bit of a challenge!!).

This particular twist is definitely for the more experimental among both biscuit enthusiasts and beginners, as the recipe not only gives a fairly conventional and simple biscuit recipe, but also instructs how to make the jam from scratch. The recipe itself is fairly straightforward, but a little more complicated than previous weeks.

Both pamphlets are from the late 1940s post-war era. They thus contain, as you may find in any recipe books or pamphlets of the time, some rather misogynistic top tips for the ‘contemporary housewife’, which I’m sure you’ll be pleased to see have not been forgotten below! It is also interesting to note that the biscuit recipe was written with the intention of, as the title suggests, ‘Making the most of sugar’when it was scarcely available due to rationing.

We hope this week’s biscuit recipe will inspire you through its challenging nature – or even its simplicity if you choose to just buy a jar of jam…

The best way of stretching the sugar ration is by making full use of other sweetenings such as saccharin, honey, syrup or treacle, jam, marmalade, sweetened condensed milk and dried fruit.

Using Jam and Marmalade
Rinse empty jam jars with a little hot water and use this in sauces or for mixing puddings and cakes.

Jam Biscuits
3 oz. fat 8 oz. flour 2 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons jam
Rub fat into flour till the consistency of breadcrumbs. Mix together the milk and the jam. Add this to the fat and flour, knead well. Roll out very thinly, cut in shapes and bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes.

Housewives who have saved sugar to make home-made jam are advised to follow very carefully the instructions given below.

Fruit should be fresh and firm-ripe. Over-ripe fruit should NOT be used.

Before the sugar is added, the fruit should be cooked slowly until it is quite tender, with just sufficient water to prevent it burning. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

SUGAR is stirred into the softened fruit until dissolved and the jam then boiled rapidly until setting point is reached. Do not have the pan too full or the jam will boil over at this stage. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Removing Scum. Do this only when boiling has finished. Constant skimming is wasteful and unnecessary.

Testing for setting point. Begin to test after about 10 minutes of rapid boiling (after sugar has been added). Remove pan from heat during testing.

To test: place a little jam on a cold plate; if setting point has been reached, the jam will wrinkle when pushed with a finger.

Filling the Jars. To prevent fruit rising in the jars, the jam should be allowed to cool slightly in the pan.
Put on wax disks while hot, and press down over the surface.

From the various types of jam recipes outlined in the recipe leaflet, we chose:

Raspberry Jam
6lb. raspberries 6lb. sugar
Put the fruit in the pan and cook slowly until some juice has come out of the fruit. Add the sugar, stir until it is dissolved, and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar

MERL Seminar series: The Great War & the countryside
Food security in the Great War: the contribution of wartime farmersby Dr John Martin, Reader in Agrarian History, De Montfort University
Tuesday 20th May, 1-2pm
Free. Drop-in / registerWhy not take the opportunity to see the Reading University College: WW1 & beyond display at the same time. (See below)Click here for details of the full seminar programme

Toddler timeFriday 23rd May, 10-11am,
£2 per child, drop-in
Suitable for families with children aged 2-4Come along to the Museum with your little ones and enjoy rhymes, songs and craft activities.

Half term family fun!Food trail
From Saturday 24th May
£2 per child, drop in
In the run-up to our food-themed Village Fete (May 31st) explore the Museum on our special food trail.
For details of family tours and craft workshops at half term, visit our Family Events page

Exhibitions

Reading University College: WW1 and beyond
Tuesday 1st April to 31 August, 2014
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening timesFunded by Arts Council England as part of the Reading Connections project, and inspired by the University of Reading Memorial Book and Clock Tower memorial, this exhibition reveals the stories of the men and women with connections to the then Reading University College, who fell during the First World War. The exhibition also looks at the theme of War in a broader sense with interesting items from MERL and the SPecial Collections relating to other conflicts.Part of our WW1 programme

Collecting the countryside: 20th century rural culturesUntil Autumn 2014Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening timesSince 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.

Students, Ben and Deiniol, met with members of the Chinese Association

Food Science students at the University of Reading have been challenged to create new dishes from ingredients used by the diverse communities in Reading. The results will be revealed in the ‘Reading, Steady, Cook!’ demonstrations at the MERL Village Fete on May 31st.

The Village Fete at the Museum of English Rural Life, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will be on the theme of food (production & consumption!) this year. The cookery demonstrations will showcase the diverse culinary heritage which exists in Reading today, including ingredients such as including salted boneless cod, bonnet peppers, tofu and oyster sauce.

Members of the Barbados & Friends Association, the West Indian Women’s Circle and the Chinese Association have met with the students to exchange ideas and give them a list of ingredients to use in their new recipes. The Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdistan members of the ‘Newcomers to the University’ group have also selected ingredients which they would use for a dish called dolma, also prepared in the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Turkey) and in the Middle East. Representatives of each the groups will help the students prepare the recipes – and taste them for the first time – at the Fete.

The students, Ben Smith, Lydia England and Deiniol Pritchard, are in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of Food Science degrees respectively. They aim to make the demonstrations informative by looking at some of the science behind the cooking and the food we eat, as well as making some tasty dishes!

Ben said “This is a great initiative from MERL to bring the department and the public together so we can explain something of what we learn about on our degree and perhaps dispel a few myths about what food scientists do!”

Professor Bob Rastall at the Village Fete in 2013

Professor Bob Rastall, Head of the Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences, will be joining the students and members of the Reading University Baking Society (RUBS) at the fete demonstrating the science of baking and cheese making. Visitors will also be able to taste Caerphilly cheese made by colleagues in the department using milk from cows on the University farms! Professor Rastall said “This is a great opportunity for our superb students to engage with the people of Reading and for us to showcase the ground-breaking work taking place in our department.”

Phillippa Heath, Public Programmes Manager at MERL said “If visitors want to get involved, we’d love them to bring along their favourite homemade biscuits to enter the Biscuit Bake-off at the Fete. We’re hoping to inspire people to revive one of Reading’s famous culinary skills!’

The MERL Village Fete takes place on Saturday 31st May from 10am to 4.30pm. For more details, visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl/villagefete Tickets are available in advance for £2.50 and on the door for £3. Admission for children is free.

Ends

Press are welcome to attend on the day. Please contact Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer at MERL, on 0118 378 8660 or a.c.hilton@reading.ac.uk for details or to arrange interviews.